Native prairie supports everyday life
Native prairie may look quiet, but it is doing a great deal. It supports working ranches and local food production, holds moisture in the soil, stores carbon below the surface, and gives wildlife room to feed, nest, and move.
Prevailing Winds is Western Sky’s effort to help keep large areas of native grassland intact, connected, and working across southeastern Alberta. We work with willing landowners to explore practical, voluntary options shaped around their land, their family, and the future they imagine for both.
Prevailing Winds is Western Sky’s effort to help keep large areas of native grassland intact, connected, and working across southeastern Alberta. We work with willing landowners to explore practical, voluntary options shaped around their land, their family, and the future they imagine for both.
A landscape we still have time to keep whole
Most people will never walk across much of Alberta’s remaining native prairie, but they depend on what it does every day. Deep, interwoven roots store carbon, hold soil in place, and create pathways for water. Above ground, native plants, insects, birds, and grazing animals form relationships developed over thousands of years.
Grass can be planted after land is disturbed, but native prairie is more than grass. Once it is ploughed, paved, or divided into small parcels, many of those relationships are lost. Keeping prairie intact is more effective than trying to rebuild it later.
Grass can be planted after land is disturbed, but native prairie is more than grass. Once it is ploughed, paved, or divided into small parcels, many of those relationships are lost. Keeping prairie intact is more effective than trying to rebuild it later.
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Approximately 80% of Canada’s native prairie grasslands have been cultivated. What remains carries an important share of the prairie’s ecological and agricultural value.
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Prevailing Winds aims to help keep up to 100,000 acres of native grassland intact, connected, and working across southeastern Alberta.
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Between 2016 and 2021, Alberta farms reported 734,974 fewer acres of natural land for pasture. That is roughly the area of 305 football fields per day.
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Since 1970, birds that depend solely on native grasslands for breeding and wintering have declined by 90%. Their decline signals pressure on the landscapes they need.
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What these numbers mean in everyday life
The loss of native prairie is not only a rural or wildlife issue. It affects food, water, how the land handles heavy rain and dry periods, and the future character of southern Alberta.
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After heavy rain Native grasses keep soil covered and help rain soak into the ground. That can mean less topsoil washing from fields, fewer muddy flows crossing rural roads, and less sediment reaching creeks and reservoirs. For ranchers and communities, that helps keep productive soil in place and reduces erosion-related damage. Around our food Many remaining grasslands are part of working cattle ranches. Keeping those ranches whole helps families continue producing food, supports rural jobs, and reduces pressure to divide or convert the land. When working land is divided, producing food locally can become more difficult and expensive. |
Between rains Deep native roots help soil absorb and hold moisture. During hot, dry periods, that gives grass and forage a better chance to keep growing and recover when rain returns. For ranchers, it can mean more dependable grazing and less pressure to buy additional feed. The same moisture supports wildlife. For wildlife and people Large, connected grasslands give pronghorn, owls, hawks, and other species room to feed, nest, and move without being confined to small, isolated patches. They also carry family histories, ranching knowledge, open views, and a sense of place that cannot be recreated after the land is fragmented. |
Many properties, one connected prairie
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Prevailing Winds aims to help keep up to 100,000 acres of native grassland intact by 2030. The goal is to connect large working landscapes, not simply individual properties, so they can continue supporting ranching, soil, water, wildlife, and rural communities.
Western Sky starts by listening to what matters to each landowner and learning how their land works. Together, we explore a practical, voluntary path that reflects the family’s goals and allows working lands to remain working. When a long-term agreement is completed, Western Sky stays connected through ongoing relationships, monitoring, and care. |
Stories rooted in the prairie
Prevailing Winds is built through individual decisions made by people who know these landscapes closely. Each story shows a different way native prairie, working lands, and family legacies can remain connected.
Half Diamond Ranch
A family decision connects a river valley Half Diamond Ranch includes approximately 1,900 acres along the Rosebud River. Cultivated uplands remain part of a working agricultural landscape, while native coulees, grasslands, trees, and river valley habitat give wildlife room to move. The family’s decision also helped build more than 25 kilometres of connected river corridor in the Rosebud Valley. |
Spruce Coulee Farms
A farm shaped by coulees and care On the north bank of the Rosebud River, Spruce Coulee Farms spans approximately 2,000 acres of river valley, branching coulees, native grass, shrubs, aspen, and spruce. The farm remains an active agricultural property while providing habitat for prairie falcons, golden eagles, bank swallows, and other wildlife. |
Mattheis Ranch
Where ranching and research meet North of Brooks, Mattheis Ranch is a working landscape of nearly 2,000 acres. Native wetlands, sand hills, shrublands, and Red Deer River habitat support ranching, wildlife, and long-term research through the University of Alberta. The property shows how agriculture, science, and lasting care can work together across one landscape. |